There has been a lot of commentary on how President Obama’s support base is eroding and how that may play out in the upcoming elections. It is incredible to me that people are short-sighted enough to fail to understand, first, that the issues we are facing today are incredibly difficult to resolve and, second, that Congress has never been particularly efficent in voting out measures which may have been proposed by the President, but which need to be enacted by Congress. I might term the electorate as suffering from ADD if it expectes immediate action on anything. Action is not equivalent to a soundbite and needs the patience, which President Obama has alluded to many times, but which some people are not willing to accept!

This doesn’y make any sense… the guy became President just 11 months ago and after 8 years of Bush presidency, and people is expecting to see things happening right away??

Bush nearly destroyed the US, and what the Country really is, both in terms of principles and values; Bush created the greatest division in America’s society since the British were colonizers… and people is expecting to see things happening right away?? It took Bush at least more than 4 years to create this mess, otherwise he had never been re-elected.

I don’t want to defend Obama, but give him some time. I think we’ve already seen some progress, and there are things that are not so evident or popular and that will ever make it to the front-page of the NYT, the Post, Time, etc… But the guy has made changes in some imporant policies that go beyond than any other President in recent history, e.g. in terms of lobbyists, yes, they still are in Washington and still are a big problem, and it’s not the ideal situation; however, Obama has made more than any other President in recent history to change this, it’s not ideal but it’s a great advance. Now if the US were a Dictatorship, instead of a Democracy, I think people would be right to say that he hasn’t done enough, but since it’s a Democracy things may take longer.

NYT, and the media in general (except for FOX, of course) should contribute to educate the people in this process; otherwise, the US will continue in the wrong track.

I don’t hate repuclicans I just think that they don’t practice what they preach. Don’t forget that the so called fiscal conservatives were the ones that a) put America into this mess b) put the US in its largest debt ever, and Bush in particular created the largest deficits, more than any other President in history. Don’t forget that Clinton handed a primary surplus with the presidency to Bush, and I’m not a big fan of Clinton but I remember.

President Obama needs to get a little bit tougher with CONGRESS, particularly Democrats. In fact, he needs to quit trying to placate the Republicans, who have been very clear on their intent to obstruct anything that he want to pass, and just get on with pulling our country out of the mess that deregulation (or lack of enforcement) and the Bush-era policies, including the Bush-era Congress (Republican-controlled) has gotten our country into. That is what I think is the problem with President Obama. He has been too nice. Granted, it isn’t too cool to ram through legislation without even consulting the Repubs (even though the Repubs didn’t seem to have a problem with ramming through their agenda without input from Democrats), but it isn’t any better NOT doing anything because of Republican obstructionism.

What exactly do the Republican Party leaders think that most *logical* voters are going to think of their obstructionism and obvious kow-towing to corporations at the expense of citizens, when the next election comes up. I guess they’re hoping that a majority of the citizens of our country who vote, are going to be stupid and not look past their words.

It took 8 years for President Bush to create 2 wars, give the tax breaks to the rich (and the trickle down effect never came), deregulate the economy and neglect New Orleans during Katrina. 8 years.

After 4 years, President Bush didn’t even attempt to reform health care, create jobs or move towards the Green economy, things that President Obama is trying to do now. President Bush’s entire 2 terms, we can say, is dominated by 911.

At least President Obama is trying, but I think it will take 8 years (or at least 4) for him to create an economic “miracle”, and end the 2 wars.

How much time do we need to give Obama? “I’ll do it five years” is simply not a solution. Obama made a lot of promises when he was a candidate but he has delivered on almost nothing. Life is getting worse for the middle class and we don’t feel like hearing excuses and waiting around while Obama wins Nobel prizes and makes billions of dollars.

I have not heard any other politico, economist, or talking head describe a means to get us out of the current economic mess. It would be good to shoot down our President if anyone was capable of replacing him,
The party of “no” is just carping but has no ideas. We will be lucky if the economy does not collapse because of our fear of deficits. It is time for a New Deal but we have probably not suffered enough yet. We will have to change our response to a bottom up program instead of a banker down plan but we are not desparate enough yet

c. perry – You honestly believe there is no one capable of replacing Obama? What? Aside from the fact that every other person who ran against him on both sides of the isle were vastly more prepared for the job than he was or will be even when he finishes is obvious at this point. As a fiercely conservative independent it was obvious to me from the first time I heard him talk the man was all style and no substance. I have to change the channel every time he speaks just like I did with Bush.

Hillary would have been and could still be a far better Democrat president than Obama. But it appears that liberals prefer to champion race over gender. It is my hope that Obama is out after one term. He promised the sky and has delivered NOTHING of substance so far in his presidency. When is he going to put on his big boy pants and start taking responsibility for his action, or more appropriately, inaction. The blame bush will get him far less mileage than the race card. Time to man up Obama and start making decisions, not excuses.

The guy can’t even get a Democrat super-majority to pass any of his major initiatives. He was right about being the post partisan candidate in that he can’t get his own party to follow his lead.

What we need a is a leader to take us out of this mess. Not an excuse maker. And Mr Obama is of all things a master of excusing himself.

President Bush is being accused of starting 2 wars in the 8 years of his presidency.

The hate and deceit toward president Bush has crippled our sense of tolerance and fairness. It is almost 10 months that Mr. Bush has left office and he is still used as the scapegoat for the failures of the Obama presidency…it is safe to say that the remaining 3 years of the Obama presidency…that Mr. Bush will still be the scapegoat.

Our country was attacked less than 8 momths into the Bush presidency…it was a vicious attack that required a quick and all-out military response by our government to let our enemies know we will not sit idly by and debate what they did to us…or why they did it.

In our twisted world of power politics and the inculcating of the minds of millions of Americans…president Bush became the villain and Osama bin Laden is becoming a forgotten seemingly harmless man.

What is more disturbing is the fact that a sitting president is now in a constant mode criticizing the 8 years of his predecessor…who was doing his best to defend our country. Like him or not …that is what Mr. Bush was doing in the White House.

President Obama is recklessly causing our country to be pulled apart by virtue of his obsession with the Bush years in the White House…it begs the question…why?

Common sense would have President Obama seeking unity in our country ( in a time of war ) and a more conciliatory tone toward Mr. Bush.

Was president Bush wrong in defending our country?

Is President Obama is setting a dangerous precedent of critical dimensions of his predecessor in a time of war…a war started by our enemies?

It is not that most here dont understand how complex the solutions for repair are….
Its that this 10 month old administration has failed repeatedly , been short-sighted , or stunningly un-prepared on every important matter it has spoken in commitment to its base , Americans , and foriegn affairs That it has encountered.
No, its not just President Obama, Its the whole of the Agenda to which he is commited to Ram through while odds are in favor of the ” in line ” three branches of government that ‘ WE ” do not need or want that is being exposed for what it is and, that has opened our eyes and awoken the sleeping giant of freedom.

Can’t blame that soley, on the republicans………….
Or, President Bush..

30 + years of bad decision making being brought ” back ” to light by the drunken sailor spending of the past president and now current presidents 10 months in office has educated even the most common American mentality…..
Through there, wallets in the last two years specificaly…..
A crash course in social economics …. with NO American Left Behind.

I understand the upset of Obama and the broken promises from his campaing. Now he is showing he is raceist. Just look at his up coming trip to Madison Wisconsin. He is going to speak at a Charter School that is about 90% minority. Are most of the partents there on public assistance??? Or illigal here in the U..S.??? He says they are “poor folks” yet they have it better than the unemployed… I hope the persons in Iowa see this as another vote buying trip and a waste of tax dollars. Obama and wife have spend a lot of money flying all over the world and parties at the White House, yet no jobs for the blue collar workers in Iowa and other states.

The Obamabots’ mantras:
Blame Bush.
Blame Reagan for the last 30 years (and ignore Clinton).
Obama can’t fix in [blank] months what Bush did in 8 years. It will take Obama at least [blank] years (long enough until after the next election).
Obama is The One, supremely brilliant (Harvard Law School), supremely articulate, perfect vision, so it must be someone else’s fault.
Any reports of imperfections in Obama and his administration and supporters must be “faux news.”
Repeat from the top.

Some presidential campaigns are more about who pulls off the best marketing job. Once in office, the marketing activities seem to morph more into public relations activities in support of the agenda.

The complexities each president has to face are more complex than regular voters could ever hope to comprehend. It’s amazing how swayed people are by sound bites and slogans.

Both Bush and Obama deserve far more credit and less blame for handling the day-to-day challenges of the office. Differences in policy and direction should be debated and understood. I wish voters would vote on the basis of conviction rather than who delivers more clever marketing.

This says more about the state of voters than it does about who’s in office.

So many people acted with their heart, not their head, when voting for Obama and now they’re paying the price. Last year many of us on this blog tired to point out that Obama was a slick talker with little experience, a huge ego and a left wing agenda. We were trashed by many of you for saying such things. it doesn’t matter that we were right what matters is that Obama is so very wrong. You may like the idea of Obama as president but the reality of an Obama presidency is going to cost you …and cost you…and cost you.

It is unfortunate that I continue to hear Obama and his supporters still blame Bush for our problems…..maybe so, but Obama knew what was ahead for him when he applied for the job, and made many promises that he has failed to abide by. We need to move on and support changes that are going to help stimulate growth and most importantly JOBS. Health care is not a priority when we are drowning in debt and have much more pressing issues facing us. The bottom line is Obama is just a typical politician pushing his party’s agenda and moving this country to the left. The reason the populace has little patience for him is solely Obama’s fault…….he promised to change politics as usual and be transparent from the get go. So far, no go. I blame Obama for where he is today and for the failure of this nation to climb out of the abyss. Mr. President, Bush has left the room…….its all you.

Regarding all the talk about how President Obama has not changed the world in his nine months in office (as some people think he promised): He can only do his best and then its up to Congress and the American people. He has been making serious efforts to engage Republicans socially and politically, consistent with his bipartisan pledge. The Republicans, however, have made clear that they’ll do anything to obstruct and undermine him. How much more time should he spend courting them when the entire party is marching in lockstep to Limbaugh’s drum?

President Obama is a patient, thoughtful, strategic leader and the American people don’t all share these qualities. This is one source of some dissatisfaction with what he has accomplished. Obama is looking farther into the future than the vast majority of politicians and citizens – first trying to achieve his goals through bipartisan compromise.

As Republicans become more extreme, angry, hateful, and obstructive, I think Obama will move on without them. The majority of Americans will see that he had no choice — trying to work with them means accomplishing very little of his agenda, exactly the rightwing’s goal.

So, for the moment as Obama moves through his long-term strategy, the right is going to fight him and the left is going to complain that he’s moving too slowly. By 2012 thinking Americans will see what a truly great leader we have in President Obama.

Admit it folks, you voted for a teleprompter. In case you haven’t noticed, he is still campaigning. He is a great campaigner, maybe the best ever, great leader, not so much. There is a huge difference between campaigning and leading and he is finding that out in spades. Now, if we could just get the rest of the world to swoon every time he gives a speech and ignore his lack of leadership, every thing would be all sunshine and lollipops.
Wake up and smell the pavement all you sheeple who voted for his teleprompter, you were duped by a slick talking snake oil salesman.

It’s great to see so many Obama supporters expressing buyer’s remorse over their choice last year. My wife is still unemployed – since March – so I’m face-to-face with the pain caused by Obama’s failed stimulus bill. It’s sad to think of all the families and young people suffering because of the misguided ideology of Obama and his administration.

I’m more than willing to give him space and time–I’m a huge supporter of him. But the people he appointed to get us out of this economic mess don’t quite correlate with his vision of change. I fear that he is just another politician, a Chicago one–scary!!! I’ll give him more time, but the signs aren’t good–i.e. the way he handled the healthare debate. He’s more concerned with Olympia Snowe than the citizens of this country who worked hard and trusted him in order to get him elected. Don’t let us down–we have too much to lose!!!!!

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…